Plan a road trip around offbeat attractions

It can be quite exciting to spot a dinosaur in the distance as you drive along an endless highway, or maybe mistake the World’s Largest Cross for a telephone pole until you and your car are dwarfed by its size. Although this can be a thrilling discovery, if you’re like me, you’re wondering if there are less-obvious oddities hidden somewhere off the side of the highway.

For this exact reason, I once planned a cross-country road trip to look for quirky attractions, and although it was a blast, the research nearly killed me. I spent countless hours on the internet, reading books, taking notes, and plotting locations on maps. When we finally set out, it turned out some of the places no longer existed or were closed. Worst of all, I missed several other sights that were in the same area because I didn’t know they were there.

RoadsideAmerica.com has created an online tool that combats these simple mistakes and saves research time. My Sights encourages you to select offbeat museums, landmarks, and attractions from their massive database and then create a road trip from your findings. You can plot up to 30 locations on the map, and then print and/or email your final trip.

The one thing you cannot do is print point-to-point directions, which can add an extra step to any trip, but hopefully someday that function will be added. RoadsideAmerica is a great place to begin any road trip, as it exposes the bizarre and delightful underbelly of our country with unconditional love and pride. And now with its new tool, you can create your own day-, week, or lifetime trip without wondering what you might be missing along the way.